Recently, I had a birthday. Many dread getting those days. Without a question, they are among life’s greatest challenges.

True, it is a time for happy nostalgia and affection. But birthdays also have a strong negative connotation. They tend to set up a crystallized pattern, which, because of the emphasis on the point of beginning, makes life a continuous cycle of counting years and anticipating the ending.

We really should not look at it that way. Instead, discover that you again had a whole year of new discoveries, new challenges and adventure. Many contemplate retirement following the advancement of years and start looking for that rocking chair. You don’t need it. It is for those that surrender and give up on life.

They may claim that they earned it, but in essence, it will hasten the conclusion of a life worth living. Instead, go on and go forward. There is so much more that can be accomplished at that stage of life. Do not slow down because you become older — you only become older when you are slowing down.

Stop looking at the west where slowly the sun is setting and the day is dying. Instead, face the east where a new day is being born, a day in which you may encounter new challenges, new adventures and possibilities.

Go onward rather than growing old. Growing old takes no effort, and it usually is accompanied by the attitude that life just happens and you can do nothing about it. Life is a flow, not a dead-end street.

Is it not true, that added years are added opportunities and therefore you have the responsibility to use them creatively? Length of years is not important. Quality of life is what counts.

We should remove the demeaning label of “senior citizen.” Instead, it should imply achievement, advancement, honor. But so often it means a useless citizen, one who has been put out to pasture.

There should be a constant process of growth. You may bring up the issue of health and say, much depends on it. We all know that it is an important aspect of life and your claim to growth. We all know, too, that health is not something you can “get” physically in the way of pills or potions.

You cannot get health, you can only be health. It is a reality of life, the normal condition of man.

The paradox of medical science is that its basic study of “life” had long been done in the laboratory. But I wonder, how can one come to know the dynamics of life by studying about death? Little wonder that medicine has insisted that death is the ultimate, and sickness is its inevitable prelude to which we all must learn to adjust.

Do understand, that the added years could be a poison to the body or the mind. Time is opportunity, and when you have more time, you have the golden opportunity to continue with education and the kind of growth experienced that so often have been neglected because there was “no time.” You can learn a new language, grow flowers, help a youngster to learn how to read, or learn to perform.

It is good to look back and appreciate the blessings that have come into your life. A little nostalgia has never hurt anyone. The danger is that you may become so fond of riding the “observation car,” that you never see where you are going, only where you have been.

Send us your copy So you say you want to write? Go for it. Send us 500 or so words of scintillating copy. Make it funny. Make it poignant. Make it count. Make it any way you want. Just don’t cuss. Don’t be boring. And have a point. If we like it, we’ll run it. Email submissions to community@rv-times.com. Put “Readers Who Write” in the subject line, and tell us the city where you live.

So you say you want to write?

Go for it.

Send us 500 or so words of scintillating copy. Make it funny. Make it poignant. Make it count. Make it any way you want.

Just don’t cuss. Don’t be boring. And have a point.

If we like it, we’ll run it.

Email submissions to community@rv-times.com. Put “Readers Who Write” in the subject line, and tell us the city where you live.